WALKING INTO THE SHELBY HOUSEHOLD BELA WAS GREETED BY FINN SHELBY, who sat by the fire seeming to smoke on a cigarette, which, although Bela herself smoked to cope with certain things she had seen and heard during the war, she did not agree with a 12-year-old secretly smoking them. Finn had always seen Bela as a sort of mother figure, meaning upon seeing her walk through the door he once again, as he had done when Tommy had walked through the door, threw his cigarette in the fire.

"Tommy and Arthur are in the office Bee, Arthur's fucking fuming." He told the girl, who folded her arms and raised an eyebrow to his antics. "Don't try and distract me from the fact that you were smoking Finn," just as the young boy was about to interrupt she stopped him. "And don't try and deny it."

Finn huffed, "all the other lads do it - why can't I?" He asked as Bela crouched down to his level and stared him in the eyes. "You are 12 Finn, act like it, you'll only be young once and don't rush too fast to fit in your brother's shoes, there are different paths, don't choose one immediately." She told him as she tapped him on the nose and stood up, ready to walk into the shop. "And just for you Finn," she turned to look at him as she went to open the door. "I won't tell Aunt Pol," she flashed him a smile as h returned the grin.

Opening the door, she was welcomed by a flood of men who either worked for the Shelby's or were placing bets with the money they had got from their jobs earlier that day. Up near the chalkboard was the youngest out of the three blinders, John, who put on each bet there was upon it. As Bela walked through, the sound of her heels awakened the men to who had appeared. The men who worked and came into the betting shop knew of only three women that were above them in a sense - Polly Gray, Bela Ren, and Ada Shelby. At the sound of any of them entering a room, all the men would stand still, watching them with wide, but lustful eyes.

Seeing her arrive, John walked over to his friend, in an attempt to warn her before going into the office. "Wouldn't go in there Bela, Arthur's had word that Tommy's setting up a race. You know what that means. Billy Kimber's army." He told her as she huffed, of course, Tommy would try to set up a race knowing the dangers. Not many things scared Tommy these days, and especially not a man and his army. "Fucking Billy Kimber!" She muttered quietly to John who nodded his head.

Billy Kimber was well known to most people not only in Birmingham but around Britain. Kimber was head of the 'Birmingham Boys'. With gangs in Uttoxeter and Leeds, he controlled racecourses in the midlands and the North. In conclusion, he was the biggest organized crime boss in England, and no one that got on the wrong side of him came out alive.

Walking into the office, Bela slammed the office door, awakening Tommy and Arthur to her presence. "You hear this Bee? He's gone and set up a fucking race and dealt with the Chinese." Arthur told her, pointing to his brother, whose face didn't move from being the cold stare that it already was. Tommy rolled his eyes at his brother's antics and Bela folded her arms, as she hummed.

"I have, I think it's damned stupid if you ask me." She told them both as she sat down, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. Arthur smirked at Tommy, for the four Shelby brothers, having Bela on their side was a form of almost winning a bet. Bela would always speak what she thought when she thought it and to whoever it was and that why people were either afraid of her incase of what she might say or they were in awe of her for speaking freely without any fear of who she would offend.

"Do you have permission from Billy Kimber to fix races, Tom? Because last I heard, Kimber doesn't deal with the likes of us." Bela asked, as Arthur then butted in, wanting to maintain some leadership in the conversation.

"Do you think we can take on Billy Kimber and his bloody army Tommy? You know what the like of him do to people like us." Tommy looked Arthur straight in the eyes, with no emotion passing through him.

"Do I think Arthur? That's exactly what I do. I think so that you don't have to." Tommy told his brother, leaning over, face to face with his brother. Moving to walk out the door, Tommy placed a hand on Bela's should. A sign of affection that Tommy had always done, no matter whether they were fighting or sad. Tom was the brother that showed the least affection when it came to Bela, he had lost that side of him the day that he went off to war, but every so often, he would place a hand on Bela's shoulder, almost telling her that he was thankful that she was there as a friend and though not by blood, a sister.

Arthur huffed, as usual, pissed off from his brother walking away. "I'm calling a family meeting tonight, make sure everyone's there." He shouted out to Tommy who walked away without looking back. Bela still sat in the same chair she had sat down in, puffing on her cigarette, waiting for Arthur to continue the rage he hadn't finished on getting out to his brother.

"Fucking twat he is," Arthur huffed sitting back in his desk. After the war, Arthur had taken to drinking, a daily occurrence. Every night, Arthur would come back from their pub, the Garrison, plastered after having one too many drinks, which would lead to many things, either him passing out god knows where getting into fights meaning he would go home to Polly battered and bruised or he would find company in a woman's bed. Either way, Bela knew that this was the only way Arthur was able to get the pain, suffering, and anger he felt from the war out.

After the war, Bela took it upon herself to help Arthur as well as all the boys as much as she could. She couldn't imagine how the things they saw affected them mentally, even though she had stayed at home during the war, the bombs that dropped, the bodies on the street and the destroyed houses affected her too. Nights on end she would have nightmares and the ringing of explosives would still ring in her ears as if it was there happening, but how was it for the boys who were there in the action? Her mind couldn't comprehend how they kept up such a stone-cold posture every day, even though she knew deep down it was killing them.

"Arthur, you know what he's like, just listen to his plan, you never know might bring some good to this goddamn family business." She rolled her as at his and he took a swing from his whiskey.

"Nothing good comes from the likes of Billy Kimber," he told her as she shook her head, knowing that part of what he was saying was right.

Nothing good comes from messing with dodgy businesses. But wasn't that what the Shelby's were all about?